Process for use in pitching barrels.



PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908.

; No. 892,108. I

' J. H. G. ZUNNER.

PROCESS FOR USE IN PITGHING BARRELS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 11,1907.

pur e JOHN H. G. ZUNNE R, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

PROCESS FOR USE IN PITCHING BARRELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June so, 1908.

Original application filed October 15, 1906, Serial bio. 339,051. Divided and this application filed June 11, 1907.

i Serial No. 878,418.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN H. G. ZUNNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rochester, New York, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Processes for Use in Pitching arrels; and I do hereby and thensupplied to the interior of the barrel in any suitable way, as for example, by spraying it or pouring it into the barre after which the barrel may be agitated or moved about either by hand or by suitable machinery in order to bring the pitch into contact with all portions of the inner surface of the barrel.

Where however, the pitch is thoroughly sprayed into the barrel by a suitable apparatus, the agitation of the barrel for the ose of distributing the pitch evenly may ispensed with.

The itch having been applied, it is usual to emp oy some step for cooling the pitch as rapidly as possible. This has been done heretofore either by continuing the agitation of the barrel, as by rolling it by hand or by machinery, or by blowing compressed air into the barrel, and allowin said air to escape therefrom. Owing to t e fact that the coated in order to wash out the condensed.

products of the smoke or vapors, and even this treatment is notalways successful in removing all contaminations.

When compressed air 1s 1n ected into the barrel immediately after the pitch coating has been applied, it not only does not satisfactorily remove the pitch smoke, but in some cases even aggravates the difficulty by causing the pitch vapors to condense more rapidly. The explanation of this is probab y that the use of compressed air raises the pressure of the gases, vapors and air within the barrel and thereby correspondingly raises the temperature of volatilization of said pitch vaiors, whereby a condensation takes place} Vhethcr this be the true explanation or not, I have discovered that if instead of employing air at a pressure above atmospheric and thereby causing an overpressure in the barrel, I cause a rarefication of the atmosphere within the barrel, that is to say, reduce the pressure, as for example,

by exhaiisting the gaseous contents of the barrel, I not only remove the heated vapors and air from the barrel and thereby assist in the rapid cooling of the barrel, but also I prevent the said pitch vapors from condensing in the barrel, probably for the reason that the reduction of pressure within the barrel lowers the tem erature of volatilization of said vapors, so t. at they remain volatile and are thereby exhausted, while any vapors already condensed may volatilize at the tem erature of the coatin and be exhausted rom the barrel. Furthermore, the act of exhausting the gaseous contents of the barrel to create the desired vacuum or reduction of pressure in the barrel-not only draws off the pitch vapors and heated gases and air, but also in itself produces a rapid cooling of the coating, since any reduction of pressure of the gas is itself accompanied by a reduction of temperature. 1

A further important advantage of my new process is that it enables the barrels to be tested rapidly and with more certainty to determine whether or not they leak than when using compressed air, because in the latter case, the pitch may be pressed outward and temporarily close a leak in the barrel, so that the gage would indicate that the barrel was tight, whereas with a reduction of pressure within the-barrel as in my ro ccss, the outside air acting through a eaky place in the barrel will push inward the soft pitch coating and thereby cause the gage pressure to rise, indicating instantly the imperfection of the barrel, thus giving an opportunity to remedy the defect at once.

, In order to carry out the process, any suit- 7 able exhausting means may be employed, for producing the desired vacuum in the barrels, as for example, the new apparatus hereinafter described, which, however, forms no part of the present invention but which is described and claimed in my application Serial No. 339051, filed October 15, 1906, of which this application is a division. This apparatus, which is referred to only as one example of the means which may be em:

ployed for carrying out my improved process,

shown in Fig. 1.

with means is shown in the accompanying drawings, in

which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device connected to a barrel, the latter being shown in section; and Fig. 2 is a centralseetional view of the operating head of this device.

Referring to the drawings, A is a head 'provided with means for engagement with the barrel B or other vessel, said means consisting in thepresent case of a flanged .Or extended shoulder a from which projects a tube aarranged to extend a distance into the vessel, this tube in the device shown being closed at one end and provided with a series of 'erforations. The tube a is made of such a iameter that it may be convenientlyinserted in the opening in the vessel, as for en ample,

hand e a.

Suitable meansisoprovided for creating a suction in the head A so that [the vapors and smoke may be drawn from the vessel and dis-v charged through the discharge outlet (0 This suction creating 'meansconnected with the head A, consists, in the present example, of a jet device and more particularly of a jet device arranged to operate with compressed air. In the embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, this jet de 4 a consists of a jet tube C arranged to discharge u ward or in a direction away from the barrel l3 and toward the discharge outlet a The jet tube C is provided with fluid under pressure from any suitable source, as for :example, by

means of a flexible-conductor such as the hose C. whi'chis connected with thejet tube C bymeans ofa' ipe C passing through the wall of: the head The 'hoseC is'intended j to be suppliedwith fluid under pressure, as

for example, compressed air from any suit-:

able source not shown. A valve G is, placed at any convenient point in order to control the supply of air or the like to the jet tube.

' To the head A is connected a gage D by which the pressure or vacuum in the head A The head Ais'hollow, and has a dis-,

ma be ascertained. Between the gage' D an the head A is'placed a cock D whereby the communication between the head and the gage may be cut off. The head A is mounted in such a manner that it may 'be firmly pressed against the barrel or other vessel and. removed therefrom. In the example shown, the head A is mounted on the end of abar E longitudinally movable in a frame work F, the bar E being provided with suitable mech anisms for moving it longitudinally, as for example, by supplying the bar E with a rack E engaged by a toothed se 'ment G mounted on a lever G fulcrumed at 2 upon the frame work, the free end of the leverG serving asv an operating handle. I The frame-work F of the apparatus, in the preferred embodiment of my invention, comrises a base F upon which the barrel B may e mounted upon suitable chock-blocks as indicated at F.

The tap-hole of the barrel B is shown at b.

In carrying out my process the barrel is' provided with an interior coating of pitch in any suitableway, as, for example, by pouringor spraying melted pitchinto itat a temperature of about 400 to 425 'Fahr. through the bung hole, the tap-hole being plugged. The barrel is agitated, if necessary, to bring the hot itch into contact with every part of the insi e of the barrel, as is usual and well known to those skilled-in the art. As quickly as I ossible thereafter, while the coating is stili hot and before it haslost any appreciable amount of its heat, the barrel is laced upon the blocks F with its bung, ho e upward, the head A at this time being elevated so as to be out of the way, by pulling down the leverG. Thereupon the head A'is rapidly depressed, either by releasing the lever 'G and allowing it to descend by its own weight, or by lever G to hasten its movement. head A is depressed," the tube a, enters the bung hole of the barrel and the packing device a comes into contact with the outside pushing upward upon the said of the barrel. By pressing upward on the lever G tln saidpacking device a is firmly compressed l. [tween the shoulder a and the barrel, thus ma ing an air-tight or substantially air-tight connection between the head and barrel. The means for creating a vacu- ,um isthen put in operation to eXhaustthe gaseous, contents of thebarrel and thereby produce a reduction of the pressurein the barrel. v

In theuse described this is accomplished by 1 opening the valve 0 and allowing the compressed air to enter vthe jet tube, while. at the same time The escape of the com- When the of the apparatus ,hereinbefore opening the discharge outlet 0, by opemng of an injector and thus exhausts the vapors, smoke and heated air from the interior of the barrel and discharges the same through the discharge outlet 0., whereby the pressure in the barrel is reduced; At this time the barrel may be tested to determine whether or not it is leaky simply by momentarily shutting the valve C and watching the gage D, whereupon the valve C is again opened. The rapid reduction ofpressure in the barrel due to the exhaustion of the gaseous contents causes a drop in temperature which quickly cools the coating in the barrel. This cooling of the barrel is assisted by allowing the cooler air from the outside to enter through the tap-hole. As the area of this ta hole, however, is very restricted compared withl the discharge ca acity of the jet device, the l restricted tap-ho e acts as an expansion. valve, l and the incoming air expands as it enters the barrel, thus absorbing more heat. The continued action of the device causes a How l of the cooler air-from the outside into the l barrel through the tap-hole and outward through the discharge outlet so that in this way the said air is continuously removed as rapidly as it becomes warmed by the heat When the treatment of the barrel is completed, the valve C may be closed, the lever G' ulled down to lift the'head A and its tube a die-a1- oi the barrel, and the barrel ren'iovod, whereupon the apparatus is ready to receive the next barrel to be treated. The gage D may be put in communicationwith the head A at any time by opening the cock D, in order to measure the vacuum which is being produced by the jet device.

My improved apparatus has an additional feature which adds to its value, as will now be explained. Some of the experts in this art prefer to submit the interior of the barrel to a pressure such as the pressure of coml pressed air after the pitch coating IS in place and before the same has been entirely hardened. With my apparatus, this can be done at any time desired,

l which it abstracts from the coating.

, reducing the pressure within the by merely closing the gate valve a and the tap-hole b or the barrel, whereupon the jet device ceases to function as an injector and the compressed air is confined in the head A and barrel B until the pressure in the latter is equal to that of the supply of compressed air. 'The gage D serves to indicate and thus allow the control of this, pressure.

Havin thus fully described my invention, what I c aim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The recess of pitching barrels and the like, whic consists in sup )lyin them with an inner coating of melted pitc and then exhausting the gaseous contents of the barreis.

.2. The process of pitching barrels and the lilre, which consists lll supplying them with an inner coating of melted pitch, then removing the heated gaseous contents of the barrels and admitting air to the interior oi said barrels.

3. The rocess of pitching ba rob and the like, whic 1 consists in supplying them with an inner coating of incited. pitch, then exhausting the heated gaseous contents oi" the barrels, admitting air to the interior of the barrels and allowing said air to expand withvin the interior of said barreL.

4. The rocess of pitchingbarrcls and the like, whic 1 consists in supplying them with an interior coating of melted pitch, removing the heated gaseous contents of the barrels, continuously admitting air to the interior of the barrels and continuously removing this air.

5. The like, 'whic an inner coating of meltct recess of pitching barrels and the li consists in sup )lyin'g them with l pitch and then f barrel below atn'iospheric pressure.

In testimony wl'icrcof l hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN H. G. ZUNNER.

Witnesses: WM. 0. PAGE, PATRICK CAULEY. 

